Menopause; ePub 2018 Dec 21; Crawford, et al

Menopause for January/February 2019

Recommendations for menopausal hormone therapy (MHT) use based on results from the Women’s Health Initiative Study (WHI) were widely adopted after 2002, a recent study showed. Researchers analyzed survey data from up to 14 approximately annual visits over 17 years (1996-2013) from 3,018 participants in the Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation, a prospective cohort study. Logistic regression was used to compare pre- vs post-WHI associations of covariates with MHT initiation and continuation, and to compare pre- vs post-WHI reasons for initiation and continuation. They found:

MHT initiation dropped from 8.6% pre-WHI to 2.8% post-WHI, and the corresponding decrease in MHT continuation was 84.0% to 62.0%.

Decreases in MHT initiation and continuation occurred across a range of subgroups, consistent with wide dissemination of post-WHI recommendations.

However, there were large declines in MHT use in subgroups for whom MHT is often recommended, ie, younger women and those with more vasomotor symptoms.